Reading in Depth
Read the following description of a typical day of a fashion designer.Explain your thought about it.
A Day in a Fashion Designer’s Life
Do you think the fashion biz is pure glamour?Get a firsthand look at different fashion professionals,including a fashion designer to find out what working in the industry is really like.
A Typical Day
Analyzing business diary for current day,if not to be out,he sets his mind on planned work:
Graphics,fashions,cup of coffee,survey of yesterday results
Computer work:E-mail reading and answering,Internet surfing,scanning images
Cooperation with webmaster,discussions on website development
Meeting customers,contractors,specialists
Searching new ideas by drawing sketches—both on arbitrary and defined topics
Wear fitting,fashions manufacturing
Looking through the fashion-related magazines
Telephone talks
Studying local market
The Best Part of the Job
Drawing
Fashion show development:choosing music,scenario,etc.
Photographing
Design exposure
The Most Difficult Part of the Job
Putting the workplace in order
Write one or two statements on the lines below about what you think about a fashion designer’s job.
TEXT
Christian Dior
Pre-reading
Answer the following questions about a designer.
1.What do you know about Christian Dior?
2.What do other people think about Christian Dior’s design?
3.What contributions do you think Christian Dior made to the fashion design?
4.What do you think led to Christian Dior’s success?
Initial Reading
Read the following text as quickly as you can,and underline the topic sentences or the key words to help understand the main idea of the text.Then complete the exercises that follow.
[1]At the end of the Second World War there was a mood of anticipation,particularly amongst the women,many of whom had been assigned to men’s jobs,which entailed them wearing unflattering protective clothing.They were tired of rationing and making something out of nothing,and were ready for someone to come and make them look glamorous again.Christian Dior did just that.His extravagant creations burst upon the fashion scene in 1947 and swept everyone along,bringing light and hope to a drab world.
[2]Christian Dior,born at Angers in the Loire Valley on January 21st,1905,was second of the five children of Madeleine and Maurice Dior.Always slightly different from his brothers and sisters,with their Norman characteristics,he was a docile,delicately featured child who enjoyed helping his mother with designing both in the house and garden.
[3]Christian had always been interested in paintings and after his time in the army he finally decided to enter into a partnership with Jacques Bonjean in order to open an art gallery,but they required help with financing the project.Much to his surprise his mother gave him the money with which to set up the gallery,on the proviso that he never allowed the name Dior to be seen to be associated with the business.Madame Dior still clung to her Victorian values,and for her family to be concerned with trade was unthinkable.
[4]For several years the gallery was the hub of a thriving artistic set,displaying work by unknown artists who soon became collectable.Life was running along smoothly until,in 1930,tragedy struck the Dior family.The youngest son,Bernard,who had been mentally unstable for many years,became unmanageable and had to be sent to a psychiatric institution.This was too much for Madame Dior to bear and she became ill.She died at the age of 51 in 1931.
[5]Try as Christian might he was unable to find any sort of job and was living on his friends’ charity.Then he came to the blinding conclusion that he wanted to become a couturier.Why had he not thought of this before?He was fortunate in finding a room with Jacques Ozenne,an illustrator,who showed him how to perfect his drawings.Ozenne was able to sell some of these sketches,giving Christian some money at last.Soon his designs were being used by all the top couturiers,his hat designs being particularly popular.Eventually,after living in a hotel for some time,he was able to afford premises in Rue Royale,where he lived and worked.He was even able to send money to his father and sister,now living in the south.
New Words
anticipation /ænˌtɪsɪˈpeɪʃ（ə）n/ n.期待；预期
entail /ɪnˈteɪl/ vt.牵涉；需要；使必要
unflattering /ʌnˈflæt（ə）rɪŋ/ adj.不讨好人的；不奉承人的
ration /ˈræʃ（ə）n/ vt.（通常指由于紧缺）配给；定量供应
glamorous /ˈɡlæmərəs/ adj.富有魅力的；迷人的
extravagant /ɪkˈstrævəɡənt/ adj.奢侈的；过度的
drab /dræb/ adj.单调的；土褐色的
docile /ˈdəʊsaɪl/ adj.温顺的；驯服的
delicately /delɪkətli/ adv.优美地；精致地；微妙地
partnership /ˈpɑː（r）tnə（r）ʃɪp/ n.伙伴关系；合伙人身份
proviso /prəˈvaɪzəʊ/ n.限制性条款；附文
hub /hʌb/ n.轮轴；中心，焦点
thriving /ˈθraɪvɪŋ/ adj.兴旺的；旺盛的；繁荣的
unstable /ʌnˈsteɪb（ə）l/ adj.不稳固的；不坚定的
unmanageable /ʌnˈmænɪdʒəb（ə）l/ adj.难管理的；难处理的
psychiatric /ˌsaɪkiˈætrɪk/ adj.精神病（学）的
demoralized /dɪˈmɒrəlaɪz/ vt.使士气低落；使意志消沉
charity /ˈtʃærəti/ n.慈善（行为）；施舍
couturier /kuːˈtjʊərieɪ/ n.裁缝师；女装设计师
illustrator /ˈɪləˌstreɪtə（r）/ n.插图画家
sketch /sketʃ/ n.草图；素描
afford /əˈfɔː（r）d/ vt.买得起；担负得起
premise /ˈpremɪs/ n.前提
Phrases and Expressions
be assigned to 被分配给；归属于
burst upon 突然来到
set up 建立；准备；安排；引起
be associated with 和……联系在一起；与……有关
cling to 坚持；保留
be concerned with 参与；关心
Related Information
1.Christian Dior：以品牌创始人克里斯汀•迪奥（Christian Dior）先生名字命名的品牌自1947年创始以来，就一直是华贵与高雅的代名词。不论是时装、化妆品或是其他产品，迪奥在时尚殿堂一直雄踞顶端。
2.Loire Valley：卢瓦尔河谷，位于法国西部偏北，享有“法国花园”的美誉。河流两岸丘陵植被茂盛，分布着一座座中世纪古堡。卢瓦尔地区名人辈出，有拉伯雷、巴尔扎克、笛卡尔，等等。巴尔扎克笔下的《幽谷百合》就是一曲对卢瓦尔河谷风光的赞歌，书中的城堡、小酒馆、小旅店有的直到今天还依然存在。
3.Norman：诺曼人，也称诺曼底人，指公元8—11世纪定居在法国西北部（法兰克王国）的维京人及其后裔，曾在欧洲发动数次领土扩张战役，并于1066年征服英格兰建立诺曼底王朝。
4.Jacques Bonjean：雅克•邦让，克里斯汀•迪奥的朋友，曾与其合开了一家小艺廊。艺廊定名为“雅克•邦让艺术画廊”，后更名为“让邦画廊”（Jambon，在法语里有“火腿”的意思）。
5.Victorian values：维多利亚时代的观念。维多利亚女王是英国十九世纪中后期的统治者。在这个时期，英国社会普遍讲求对于宗教的信仰，对于道德价值观的追求，反对伤风败俗的行为，形成了总体而言比较压抑的社会气氛。
6.Rue Royale：法国巴黎皇家路，位于协和广场和玛德莲广场之间，街上最富盛名的店面为马克西姆餐厅（Maxim’s Restaurant）。1843年8月12日，数万只蝴蝶飞临该街，一时蔚为奇观。
Exercise 1
The following sentences are in disorder.Put them in correct order according to the time when they happened.
a.Christian decided to become a couturier and his designs became popular.
b.Women were tired of rationing and making something out of nothing,and were ready for someone to come and make them look glamorous again.
c.Christian opened an art gallery and it became popular with the artists.
d.Christian and Jacques Bonjean required help with financing the project of an art gallery.
Correct order:______ —______ —______ —______.
Exercise 2
Match the paragraphs on the left column with the information on the right.
1—______;2—______;3—______;4—______;5—______.
Re-reading
Read in more detail and complete the following exercises according to the text.
Exercise 1
Answer each of the following questions with the information from the text.
1.What did Christian bring to the fashion scene in 1947?
2.How did Christian differ from his brothers and sisters?
3.What requirement did Christian’s mother have for him when she gave him money to set up the gallery?Why?
4.In which situation did Christian think of becoming a couturier?
Exercise 2
Choose the best answer to complete each of the statements according to the text.
1.People,particularly women,anticipated________________ at the end of the Second World War.
A.wearing unflattering protective clothing
B.wearing the same clothes as those of men
C.wearing some different clothes from those they wore before
D.wearing rationing clothes
2.Christian opened an art gallery with________________.
A.his mother B.his father
C.Jacques Ozenne D.Jacques Bonjean
3.The gallery displayed work by________________.
A.unknown artists B.famous artists
C.collectors D.Christian
4.Christian’s________________ were particularly popular.
A.hat designs B.sketches
C.clothes designs D.paintings
5.It can be inferred from Paragraph 5 that________________.
A.Christian’s art gallery worked well after his mother’s death
B.Christian’s art gallery didn’t work well after his mother’s death
C.Christian lived on the art gallery after his mother’s death
D.Some artists lived on the art gallery after the death of Christian’s mother